Metastasis

Metastasis Chairman: I. J. Fidler 1988 Despite advances in diagnosis and treatment, cancer is still a major cause of morbidity and mortality, and metastases that are resistant to therapy remain the chief cause of death from cancer. An understanding of the basic mechanisms by which metastases are produced is required if rational antimetastatic strategies are to be developed. An international group of scientists met at the Ciba Foundation to evaluate their recent work in relation to the metastatic spread of tumours and to consider the implications for new methods of prevention and treatment. Much of the emphasis in this volume is placed on mechanisms operating at the cell surface, including the contribution of cell adhesion molecules, and of fibronectin and other extracellular matrix components, to the behaviour of normal and abnormal cells. Investigations into the role of growth factors and motility factors, and secreted enzymes such as type IV collagenase, are also providing insights into invasive processes, and inhibitors are being developed and tested for their possible use in metastasis prevention.
Other studies are concentrating on the search for the genes that determine the metastatic phenotype; the results of transfecting DNA from metastatic to non-metastatic cells are discussed in the symposium. The role of the immune system, including the part played by MHC genes, is also considered. Studies of the reduction of metastases by means of liposome-activated macrophages provide hope that tumour progression and heterogeneity can be circumvented. With its emphasis on basic mechanisms and on clinical intervention, this symposium should interest cell, molecular and developmental biologists, molecular geneticists, immunologists, clinical oncologists, and other physicians concerned with new approaches to an old but persistent problem. Other Ciba Foundation Symposia: No 125 Junctional complexes of epithelial cells Chairman: Sir Michael Stoker 1986 ISBN 0 471 91091 0 No 131 Tumour necrosis factor and related cytotoxins Chairman: L. J. Old 1987 ISBN 0 471 91097 X No 134 Research and the ageing population Chairman: T. F. Williams 1988 ISBN 0 471 91420 7